Titanium, Talonite or other metal?

W

w0rf

Joined
Jun 6, 2003
Messages
9
Hey,

I would like to give knifemaking a little try,
and I'm going for stock removal, forging seems even more difficult to me

First problem is getting the metal, over here in belgium, would have no idea where to start.

And ofcourse still wondering what kind of steel i would use
-Titanium sounds nice, but what alloy to take, the 6Al/6V/2Sn
or the less *strong* 6Al/4V ??

Also..does titanium need heat treating also?C
oz if they don't it might be a bit to hard for stock removal...
so it hard for stock removal, or quite doable?

I know Ti has limited rc hardness, but saw somewhere that they're close in the range used for throwing knifes..and hey making throwing knives is definitely an option:)
just wonder .. have they enough weight to be thrown decently?

-What about talonite?
-SR-101 seems another very decent steel alloy (used by swamp rat) that can take quite some battering..but is this metal for sale?

Any other metal that u recommend, 440c seems a bit to regular for me.

If anyone has an idea where to find metal (small plates with the right thinkness, not a few 1000 kilos of metal;)) in belgium, tell me!!!
 
Where to start...I would recomend O-1 tool steel for starters. There are several reasons for this.
1. It is readily available, I would imagine even in Belgium.
2. It is usually available precision ground at reasonable prices.
3. It is easy to work with and can be heat treated with a torch without much difficulty.
4. When done properly it will make a very good knife.

Here are some answers to your other questions.
I would recomend against talonite and titanium for several reasons. First is that they will be much more expensive and maybe more difficult for you to find. Second is that they will be more difficult for you to work with especially if you are useing hand tools.

Tom
 
Tom is right .Talonite and titanium are really for specialized uses and they are very expensive. I don't know the equivalent euro steels but 1095, O1,O2 are good to start with. They are easy to work easy to heat treat and should be readily available and will make a fine knife.
 
From what I have read, start with O1 or O2 as you can heat treat them repeatly without problem.

1095 is finnicky and hard to work with as the quench and temper has to be very precise.

The other option you have is to shape stainless bar stock like ats34 or 440C.

BG42 and S30V chews up grinding belts so, it can be quite expensive for a beginner.

Forget about heat treating stainless at home, you need a high-temp controlled furnace.
 
I know it's a few months away yet but here's a post from Jan Dox over at the CKD forum:

Invitation to the 4th BKS (Belgian Knife Society) Knifemaking days and knifeshow .
It is happening saterday november 8 and sunday novenber 9 2003 at Gembloux, a small town south of Brussels.
If anyone is planning a holiday in Belgium, That is the time to come!
We'll give more info later and will answer questions if there are any.
Click to expand...

You'll find one or two Belgian knifemakers on the forums, one of them will be able to point you in the right direction for some steel. O1 is almost universally available. If you can't find any in Belgium I'll send you some good old Sheffield O1, just drop me an e-mail :)

Roger
 
Also about Ti for throwing knives...

One of the key elements in a throwing knife is heft. Ti alloys are going to be lighter than steel, and as a result will make a thrower with obviously less heft. This is not necessarily desirable! Averaging about 1 ounce per inch of overall length will yield a desirable thrower, and you would need to use more material to make a Ti thrower of the same weight.

Just thought I'd throw that in.
 
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